We were lucky to catch up with Wonder Truly recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Wonder thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I’m extremely fortunate in my work that I’ve had the privilege of working on many meaningful projects in my career. Since I started producing for other artists in January 2023, a number of my clients have told me that the work I did on their tracks was as if I’d pulled the ideas right out of their head and made it tangible.

My mission in music production is to uplift and amplify marginalized voices. My clientele consists primarily of queer women, chronically ill and disabled artists, and people of color. These are artists who are typically overlooked and severely underrepresented in the music industry, whose voices are vital in shifting focus from “industry” to “culture.”

I can’t tell you how many horror stories I’ve heard from women and people of color who have been disrespected, ignored, talked over, and condescended by studio engineers, producers, music venues, and agents. It is infuriating to me that this is the standard in the mainstream. I’m doing everything I can to change it from my little corner of the world by serving marginalized artists. From a foundation of safety and dignity, to holding space for their artistic integrity throughout the process, to making said process as collaborative and educational as I can, all the way to assisting with promotion and marketing once the project is done.

It’s important to me that music be affordable and accessible to all, so I work on a sliding scale based on my artists’ budgets. Some artists paying me my full rate allows me to help other artists who wouldn’t be able to afford these services otherwise.

I’ve recently also started to sink my teeth into artist development. Artists who write songs but don’t play instruments, and artists who have always wanted to write original material but don’t know how. With songwriting workshops and exercises, sessions where I refine lyrics or help put someone’s words to music, I am seeing so many artists blossom with joy and confidence in themselves. It’s ridiculously rewarding and fulfilling. I am lucky to get to do what I do.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Hello, readers! My name is Wonder Truly. I am a nonbinary Seattle transplant living in ever-arid Phoenix, AZ. I’m a music producer, singer-songwriter, and recording artist working out of a humble bedroom studio. Among my claims to fame are opening for the John Butler Trio in 2016 and the band Cake in 2017 at the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon. I have been on local television twice: once in 2019 to celebrate the upcoming release of my EP, and again in June 2024 with an incredibly special and meaningful segment about my mission to make music accessible for all, but especially artists in underserved demographics.

Pior to becoming a music producer for other artists, I self-produced my original releases and spent four years touring full time throughout the US in my little Prius. I was proud of my hustle, my girlboss-ness, my diamond-hard work ethic. I was a poster child for hustle culture. All the way up until the pandemic hit in 2020, I was forging my way, odds be damned. But then all the venues shut down, and my work evaporated.

After a couple years of pivoting the best I could, freelancing with art and song commissions, and streaming music on Twitch, I got hit with covid in October 2021 and was sick with long covid for 13 months, most of which I spent bedridden. It has been a challenging and rewarding year and a half of recovery, but having this context in the background of my work is valuable to me. I want people to know about it because not only did having such a serious long-term illness drastically affect every facet of my life and artistry, but because for all long covid took from me, what it gave me is the value of rest and patience. Hustle culture is out the door, baby; radical compassion and self care are on the way in!

Being a queer, neurodivergent, and chronically ill artist myself sets me apart from other producers. I approach my clients and my projects with a unique empathy that is unlikely to be found in the bigger, shinier recording studios and professionals in this field.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I want everyone who thinks of themselves as non-creatives to heal from that illusion. Creativity is wired into us. The society we live in seldom rewards those who set aside time to write, or paint, or play, or sing, and so many of us have been conditioned out of our innate creativity, but I promise you it’s still there. It is my personal belief that ANYONE can write a song, even if they think they have no musical or lyrical ability. It is part of my mission to offer the gift of self discovery in songwriting to people who think of themselves as uncreative.

Artists are vital to society, yes, but we’re not inherently better or more gifted. I wasn’t always a great singer, and I sure as heck used to be a lot worse at music production than am now. But years of committing to being bad at something until I’m good at it changed me into someone who can turn my creativity into a full-time endeavor. And even that doesn’t happen in a vacuum: artists don’t propel themselves! I wouldn’t have gotten even half as far as I have if it wasn’t for the community of musicians and non-musicians throwing their support behind me, consistently, for years.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Redistribution of wealth! Personally, I think that would solve most of society’s problems. However, since that’s a bit of a reach, my favorite means of support for myself and other artists is bringing back the Renaissance-era concept of artist Patronage. The painters, poets, and composers we consider today to be the greats would not have been immortalized in our culture if it weren’t for patrons making sure their artist’s basic needs were met so they could dedicate their lives to bettering their craft.

Today, we have a great simulation of that old-school patronage with a website called Patreon, which allows community members to pledge a monthly or per-piece-of-art dollar amount to their favorite artists. I started my Patreon in March of 2017 (patreon.com/wondertruly), and I am dead serious when I say that Patron support has saved my well-being month after month for the last seven years. Anyone who wants to support my songwriting or endorse the mission of bringing up underserved artists through music production can do so by pledging anywhere from $1 to $100 per month. Believe me: every single dollar makes a tremendous difference. There is no such thing as too little support.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://iamwonder.net
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/wondertruly
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealwonder
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/wondertruly
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/wondertruly
• Other: https://threads.com/wondertruly

Image Credits

Jimothy Is Not In The Band
Megan Cary Photography